GUATEMALA CITY ( Associated Press) – Thousands of Guatemalan indigenous people and farmers protested and blocked roads in various parts of the country on Monday, demanding an end to corruption and justice to allow the demand for a unique presidential ticket that names an indigenous woman. the first day of the campaign for the general election on June 25.
Last week, the Secretariat for Strengthening Democracy of the Organization of the United States of America (OAS) expressed its concern about the electoral process in Guatemala, because “the machines set up to challenge and exclude candidates generate uncertainty and conflicts.”
The movement of the People’s Liberation Party, which names indigenous Thelma Cabrera and Jordán Rodas for president and vice president, respectively, has been excluded from the nation by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE). The measure has been appealed and on Monday the Supreme Court of Justice will hold a public hearing in which it will hear Cabrera’s and Rodas’ arguments.
But they were not the only ones left out of the battle. Francis Arredondo, requested by the Creo party, denied the registration of his petition also because he did not have a document testifying that he had no outstanding accounts with the state, the same argument that Rodas was not allowed to share. which automatically blocked Cabrera’s request.
Another of the candidates left was Robert Arzú from PODEMOS, a populist in nature who proposes the death penalty. TSE has submitted its registration to complete the first election campaign.
“At this moment, we are asking the CSJ (Supreme Court) for the purpose that the people have entered the (political) field to play, but we (want) a clean field. Officials have to do their job because the people are going to judge and they are the majority of the people,” said Cabrera at the beginning of the election campaign via Facebook.
Several political parties also launched a campaign in the election, such as the right-wing Valor-Unionista coalition, which named Zury Ríos Sosa, the daughter of the former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, as an attempted genocide.
The program on Monday for which 29 political parties are nominated, more than 31,000 candidates for president, president, council members, mayors and municipal representatives are for the parliamentary elections of Central America.
Several institutions in Guatemala have criticized the lack of transparency and the lack of legal criteria to mandate applicants, as well as the inequality in the application of requirements by the TSE.
Among the candidates who registered with the TSE are people accused or convicted of crimes such as corruption, drug trafficking and money laundering, among them Jaime Martínez Lohayza, who is running as a major candidate for the party of Chiquimula Ríos Sosa. Lohayza was sentenced to five years in prison for having an adulterous influence in favor of him who laundered millions of dollars.
The TSE also did not look at the sanctions the US government had applied to five Guatemalan politicians who also had their entry visas revoked in that country. Among them is Felipe Alejos, deputy candidate of the TODOS party and accused of corruption.
